A variety of small devices for scratching the face of a gaming ticket have evolved over the course of time. Many of these devices have adopted a box-like configuration, which have a scraping edge for scraping a gaming ticket and an enclosed portion for catching the scrapings from a ticket. An exemplary ticket scratcher of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,061, (issued to Rizzo), which discloses a device having a thick, plastic, box-like body with a slot that penetrates the body. A cantilever member having a scraping edge resides at the entry of the slot so that when a ticket is inserted into the slot the cantilever member is depressed against the face of the ticket, as it is pulled past the cantilever member, which removes the concealing coating from the ticket. Other similar ticket scratching devices include those seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,907,882 (issued to Tyree) and 5,419,004, (issued to Fox), which incorporate variations of a box having a slot for inserting one or more lottery tickets. These additional devices incorporate various mechanical means to bring a scraping edge into contact with the face of a ticket.
The previously mentioned devices, while possibly being effective for removing a good portion of the concealing coating of a ticket, all operate on the design of a box having a slot which requires the ticket to be maneuvered into the slot, which can be difficult if a ticket is bent or torn. Also, the enclosed quality of the box-like design encloses the coating scrapings, which requires the user to repeatedly bother with opening the box to empty the scrapings. Additionally, if a ticket is not fully scratched after a first pass through the box, the user must pass the ticket blindly through the box, sometimes multiple times, without fully knowing if the un-scraped area is being attended to on each pass. Finally, the singular ticket scratching function provided by these devices reduces the chance that they would be carried by a user on a regular basis and therefore it is unlikely a user would have these devices available when a ticket needed to be scratched.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.